Tappan Zee Bridge bus plan gains steam

Tuesday

Mar 26, 2013 at 2:00 AM

TARRYTOWN — Members of the Tappan Zee transit task force appear poised to throw the train under the bus — and get on the bus to ensure better travel options are in place when the new bridge opens in 2018.

Judy Rife

TARRYTOWN — Members of the Tappan Zee transit task force appear poised to throw the train under the bus — and get on the bus to ensure better travel options are in place when the new bridge opens in 2018.

At their fourth meeting Friday, many members embraced a bus rapid-transit system that evolves as the most immediate, effective and affordable solution for improving east-west travel in the Interstate 287 corridor.

Building a new commuter rail line across Rockland County to Tarrytown was dismissed largely because of its expense, as well as its emphasis on travel to New York City at a time when both the nature of work and the location of employment centers are shifting.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, for example, suggested the short- to medium-term goal should perhaps be getting Rockland's Tappan Zee Express across the new bridge and into White Plains as quickly as possible.

"Then, full-blown BRT (bus rapid-transit) with all the bells and whistles would be the long-term — the ultimate — goal," Astorino said.

"That's the beauty of BRT," agreed Veronica Vanterpool, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. "You can start small and build out."

"Make a down payment," added Chris Jones, vice president for research at Regional Plan Association.

Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, D-Suffern, Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence and former Westchester County Transportation Commissioner Larry Salley called BRT the only reality-based option financially.

The members' positions mirror the widespread public support for BRT that has dogged Gov. Andrew Cuomo's decision to pursue a $3.9 billion replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge without any new or improved transit services.

The administration has contended there was simply no money for transit and, indeed, the New York State Thruway Authority still is trying to put together a monetary package for the bridge itself.

The task force was created only as a condition of winning the backing of Rockland and Westchester counties for the new bridge — a federal requirement.

In coalescing around BRT, members have nonetheless revealed differences. Rockland, for example, wants as direct a connection as possible to the Metro-North station in Tarrytown for its Tappan Zee Express, but Tarrytown has its own ideas about how to achieve it.

Regardless, Tarrytown Mayor Drew Fixell said the transfer between bus and train, whether made in his village or in White Plains, would be "the linchpin" of any BRT system.

"It makes the whole thing work," Fixell said. "Do the transfer right and you can achieve all the benefits of commuter rail with a bus system that adapts to our existing land-use patterns."

To speed the pace of discussions, Tom Madison, the Thruway Authority's executive director, and Joan McDonald, the Department of Transportation commissioner, said they would appoint a subcommittee to consider how to pay for the task force's recommendations.

"We don't want to get to the end and find we haven't grappled with the money," McDonald said.